Twitter Likes aren’t Private, Ask Ted Cruz

Sep 17

This past Monday, our nation remembered the 16th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers. This day always leaves room for moments of silence and a reminder of how much pain and fear was struck unto the American people for years following. Apparently, it is also a day for Texas senator and former Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz to peruse Twitter for clips of pornography.

On Monday afternoon, someone who happened to be looking at Cruz’s Twitter profile at just the right time pointed out that the senator had liked a tweet from @SexuallPosts that contained an over 2-minute clip from a porno.

Cruz was semi-quick to blame the flub on a staffer and unlike the tweet, but not before twitter users pointed out the irony in the situation. About a decade ago, Cruz defended a state ban on “obscene devices” like dildos, artificial vaginas, and other sex toys, saying “there is no substantive-due-process right to stimulate one’s genitals”. It really makes you think- maybe this is his way of telling the public that he’s changed his stance. Maybe he was watching the video in the tweet for research. Maybe he’s a massive hypocrite.

Twitter users came together to laugh at the fact that this very religious, very family-oriented, and very watched politician would be not only looking at pornographic twitter accounts but liking them- which shows up publicly on his profile. This isn’t the first time that someone in the public eye has not been careful about their social media platforms (remember when Donald Trump favorited a tweet about how he wasn’t presidential?). Mess ups like these will cause the public to quickly undermine that person’s professionalism, even if its just social media. I hope that this proves as a reminder to politicians and influencers that what you do in person or on the internet carries weight.